The Kitten Saga
by QueenMabOnTheFinalizer
Summary: In which Kevin and Connor own two kittens. These are just little stories about what life is like living with them. McPriceley. Don't own any of the characters, apart from the kittens. (Starts before the kittens come about for context, so there's a bit of a time jump between chapters 1 and 2).
1. Chapter 1: Mormons and their pets

"Kevin!" Chris called to Elder Price, coming around the corner to the living room. Kevin looked up expectantly at his name, wondering what was going on.

"Yeah?" he asked, unsure what to expect.

"Connor's upset." Chris told him. "He's crying."

"What?" Kevin sat up, instantly concerned at the idea of his boyfriend crying. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Chris shrugged. "I can't get anything out of him. I tried, but I think it'd be best if you went."

"I'll go." Kevin announced, leaping up and heading for Connor's room.

"I'll be here. Until dinner." Chris called back, and Kevin rolled his eyes. It wasn't that Chris didn't care about Connor, it was just that he wasn't great with people. Having been forced to be perky for most of his mission training, he was perfectly content to be a bit of a snarky asshole when he felt like it.

Kevin slipped into Connor's room very quietly, closing the door behind him. He locked it too, but he didn't realise because it was such a habit - he always seemed to lock the door when he and Connor were alone in a room.

Connor, as Chris had reported, was lying on his bed, crying quietly to himself. He didn't register Kevin coming in, and Kevin sympathetically at his boyfriend's heartache, whatever it was about.

He went and sat down on the edge of Connor's bed, careful not to startle him.

"Connor?" he prompted the other boy quietly. Conner, suddenly aware of another human being's presence, looked up through tearful eyes, and smiled helplessly at Kevin.

"Oh," he sniffed, "hey, honey."

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked him, shifting closer as Connor continued to weep.

"I just..." he sobbed, "I just got a letter from my...parents."

"Oh, no." Kevin said quietly, and Connor actually laughed.

"No, it's...not that." he told him boyfriend, sitting up a little way and drying his eyes - or at least attempting to - with a tiny smile. "No. My mom...told me that...my cat got sick and...well, she's..." He found that he couldn't continued and burst back into floods of tears. Kevin sighed and pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry, Connor." he whispered kindly. Kevin had never had a cat, but he knew it was painful when a pet died. His own dog had died the previous year, and he'd refused to come out of his room for a week - except for Church, of course. And school. But at the weekend, he couldn't be seen. Except at meal times. But he _was_ crying.

"It's alright." Connor attempted to say, and Kevin only just understood him. "It's just...I had her since...she was a...kitten. She was...so cute. Poor Mitzi."

"I understand." Kevin consoled him, smiling at his cat's name and rubbing his back as he clung to him. "When Pongo died I was in mourning for a whole week."

"Pongo?" Connor asked, looking at him curiously. "The dalmatian?"

"No, Pongo was my dog." Kevin laughed. "I named him after the dalmatian."

"Oh." Connor smiled. "What...what kind of dog was he?"

"Ugh, terrier." Kevin told him, and he chuckled.

"I can't believe I'm crying over a cat." he said.

"Why?" Kevin asked. "It's okay to cry over pets. They teach us companionship."

"Don't start getting deep with me, Kevin."

"What else do you want me to say?"

"Oh, I don't know." Connor shrugged. "It's just..." he sighed. "I wasn't gonna cry until I started thinking about how on cold evenings she's curl up in my lap when I was sitting by the fire, and at Christmas she'd come and play with the decorations on the tree and how she's always get her claws caught up in my scarfs. And then when she was scared she used to cling on to my leg and not let go until I picked her up. And how to get my attention she'd get in between me and whatever I was doing and lick my nose." He paused, welling up again. "And I wasn't going to cry until I realised that she'll never do it again. The house'll just be empty without her."

Kevin had held on to Connor tighter when he had started to talk again because he'd known that Connor had been going to upset himself even more.

"It's okay, Connor." he told him. "Hey, you know what? I'll get you a new kitten when we get back, and then you can have another adorable thing to love."

"Other than you." Connor laughed. "You don't have to do that, Kevin."

"I want to." Kevin told him, stroking his hair fondly. "I don't like seeing you upset."

"Thanks, honey." he smiled weakly, trying his best not to start crying again.

"Don't worry about it." Kevin whispered, kissing the top of his head gently. Connor nuzzled his head into Kevin's chest, and Kevin felt him pushing him down, asking him to lie down on the bed. With a smile, he did so, so Connor was lying on top of him, snuggling into him in that way only Connor could. Kevin ran a hand through his hair again, feeling rather content.

He looked at Connor with a smile and asked,

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I think so." Connor sighed in reply, sitting up so his legs were across Kevin's and their hips were perpendicular to each other.

"Sure?" Kevin checked, propping himself up with his elbows.

"Reasonably." Connor smiled. "I'm still upset, but I'll try not to mope in my room for a week." Kevin rolled his eyes again looked away from Connor, shaking his head.

"Honestly." he said. "I come to make you feel better and you just start making fun of me again."

Connor laughed to himself and leant back down to Kevin, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips, which he returned with great satisfaction.

"Thank you for cheering me up." Connor whispered to him, stroking his fingers over Kevin's face.

"You're welcome." Kevin replied.

He lay down again, and Connor draped himself over his body with a contented sigh. Kevin was glad that he was able to make Connor happy. It gave him some kind of sense of accomplishment. He closed his eyes, letting the silence envelop them. It was nice to have moments like this, he thought.

After a while, Kevin looked at Connor with both eyes open. The older boy's eyes glistened slightly, and Kevin smiled.

"You know I love you, don't you, Connor?" he said quietly.

"Of course I do." Connor replied. "And you know I love you, right?"

"Yeah, I do." Kevin nodded at him. "And you know what? I can't wait to own a kitten with you."

"Oh, Kevin." Connor laughed.


	2. Chapter 2: A Wicker Basket

"Connor?"

"Yes, dear?" Connor called back to his fiancé as he shifted through mail.

"I have a surprise for you." he called back.

"Do you?" Conner said nervously. As much as he loved Kevin and as much as he loved surprises, it was always a 50/50 situation of whether he liked Kevin's surprises or not.

"Don't sound so worried." Kevin laughed, coming through the door and placing a large wicker basket on the table. Conner eyed it hesitantly, not entirely sure what to make of it. "Guess what?"

"You got the role of Dorothy?" Connor guessed randomly, and Kevin gave him a look.

"No." he rolled his eyes. "Try again."

"I'm really worried about what you have in this basket, honey." Connor said, stepping a little closer to the basket. "It's not a snake is it?"

"Why would I buy you a snake? You hate snakes."

"I don't know what goes on in that head of yours." Connor shrugged with a smile. At that moment, the basket made a small movement, and Connor jumped. "Jeez, Kevin, what is that? Is that a live animal?"

"Yeah." Kevin grinned. "Exciting, huh?"

"Kevin, I swear," Connor said sternly as Kevin started to open the basket, "if that is any kind of reptile or a mouse, I am never going to -"

"Surprise!" Kevin interrupted him with a smile, holding up one of the most adorable kittens Connor had ever seen in his entire life.

"O-M GOSH, Kevin!" he nearly squealed, hoping up and down rather excitedly, making Kevin smile. "You got me a kitten? That's so sweet, I love you!"

"I did promise, remember?" Kevin laughed, as Connor held out his hands to receive the tiny cat. He handed it to him and Connor smiled joyously. The kitten was black and had piercing green eyes. It looked up at Connor curiously, just as Mitzi had done when he'd first got her, and started pawing at his scarf.

"It's so cute!" he gushed. "Look at its little nose and its tiny little ears! And such small paws! Kevin, I love it!"

"It's a girl." Kevin told him fondly, watching him playing with the kitten's paws. "What are you going to call her?"

"Hmm." Connor thought for a moment as the kitten licked his nose. "Elphaba." he decided on with a smile. "She's Elphaba."

"Cute." Kevin said as Conner continued to look fondly down at the newly named Elphaba, who was trying to climb up him, mewing quietly. "You would call her something like that, wouldn't you."

"Of course I would." Connor smiled, looking into Elphaba's eyes playfully, and she pawed at his nose.

"Well, that's great, but, uh, what about this little guy?"

Connor looked up in confusion to see Kevin struggling to control the tiny, ginger kitten which had dug its claws into his sleeve.

"Oh, Kevin, you didn't!" Connor smiled, even more happiness growing inside him.

"Well, I guess I kinda got fond of them." Kevin shrugged. "And this one reminded me of Toulouse from The Aristocats."

"You're adorable." Connor cooed, putting Elphaba back in the basket and helping remove the fluffy ginger kitten from Kevin's arm. "We'll just have to call him Toulouse, then." He giggled looking at the kitten, who's eyes were a bright blue.

"You match." Kevin teased, and Connor gave him a look.

"Yes, but, look, he has fluffy hair like you." he teased, ruffling Kevin's hair "Isn't that adorably sweet?"

"You're adorably sweet." Kevin countered as he put Toulouse back in the basket with Elphaba.

"Thank you so much." Connor told him happily, hugging him tightly. "You're wonderful; I love you."

"I love you too." Kevin replied, and he pressed a gentle kiss to Connor's lips, making him smile.

"Oh," he realised, pulling away, "we'll have to get a litter box. And a scratching post so they don't tear up the furniture."

"I'm glad you know what you're doing with cats." Kevin sighed. "I have no idea."

"Aw, honey." Connor laughed. "Don't worry, I'll help you."

"You'd better." Kevin warned him, leaning in for another kiss.


	3. Chapter 3: Attack of the Kittens

"Connor!"

Connor McKinley looked up from his writing in confusion, hearing his fiancé's voice from somewhere in the house. There was silence for a moment. Then ...

"Connor, help!"

"What on earth?" Connor muttered to himself, getting up to go and find Kevin. What he could be doing the red-head hadn't the faintest clue.

"Kevin, where are you?" he called, listening for a response.

"Upstairs!" Kevin replied, and Connor nimbly leapt up the stairs. Kevin wasn't in the hall, so he wandered into the bedroom looking for him.

"Kevin, sweetie, what is going on?" he asked.

"Help, I'm under attack!" Kevin replied, and Connor caught sight of him behind the bed. He walked around it, an eyebrow raised in confusion, then burst out laughing at what he saw.

Kevin was sitting on the floor, looking a little tense, and their two kittens, Elphaba and Toulouse, were crawling all over him, using their claws to stick into his shirt. Toulouse was trying to get up onto his head, and Elphaba was making her way up his leg.

"Oh, Kevin, you're so ridiculous." Connor giggled, calming himself down.

"Don't laugh at me." Kevin gave him a look, trying to take Toulouse off him. "I keep trying to get them off me, but they just keep coming back. I even tried to get on the bed to hide, but they climbed up. They won't leave me alone."

"They're kittens, honey, they're supposed to be playful." Connor pointed out, kneeling down next to the brunette and picking Elphaba up. She gave a quiet mew of protest, trying to break free of his hold, but - being so experienced with cats - Connor managed to subdue her. She still squirmed a little bit, but she couldn't escape.

"Why are they only doing this to me and not you?" Kevin asked, holding Toulouse at arm's length while the ginger kitten attempted to get out of the hold.

"They sense your fear." Connor teased, and Kevin laughed to himself. "I don't know. I guess they just like you. Mitzi used to do this to me when she was young. They'll grow out of it."

"Their claws are so sharp." Kevin tutted, eyeing Elphaba as she made a sudden movement. "Is that normal?"

"Yes, Kevin, that's normal." Connor assured him. "When they get a bit older it won't be so bad."

"This is why I always had dogs." Kevin said, and Connor laughed. Kevin liked the kittens very much, but he was more of a dog person. Connor had always been a cat person. His first cat, Mitzi, who had died while he'd been in Uganda, had been given to him when he was 7, so he was used to them.

"Look, they should calm down if you keep them still." he smiled at his fiancé, who was still battling with Toulouse. "See, Elphaba's nearly asleep."

"Yeah, but what about this little guy?" Kevin asked as Toulouse managed to escape and ran back to Kevin's leg, climbing up his trousers.

"I'll get him. Hold Elphaba." Connor replied, handing Kevin the little black kitten. He went to where Toulouse was, but the other kitten must have figured out the plan and tried to hide under Kevin's leg, not wishing to be separated from his new toy. Connor smiled, then reached down and grabbed Toulouse. The kitten meowed very loudly, but Connor kept him from jumping out of his arms.

"There." he said in satisfaction. "That should be ..."

He stopped, looking up to see Kevin's unimpressed face as Elphaba clung to his shirt. He couldn't help but laugh.

"These kittens are _your_ problem now." Kevin said, and Connor rolled his eyes.

"You know you think they're adorable." he cooed, picking Elphaba up by the scruff of her neck. She wiggled, but he took her and Toulouse back downstairs without much of a hitch and put them in their cage. They mewed in complaint at him, and he smiled. "Sorry, you two." he apologised softly. "Kevin doesn't want to be your climbing frame anymore."

"That's true." Kevin agreed, appearing behind Connor. "Ow. I'm going to have little scars on me now."

"Oh, you'll be fine." Connor laughed. "Now, can I get back to work, or will I need to save you from anything else today?"

"I should be fine." Kevin smiled, giving Connor a quick kiss before letting him get back to work.

Connor couldn't help feeling that his fiancé was as much of a handful as the kittens.


	4. Chapter 4: Operation Wicked Whiskers

"Okay, let's get something straight here." Kevin said seriously as he stared into two bright green eyes. "This is my bed. I sleep here. You don't. You're not allowed to be on my bed, so I want you to get off, please."

There was silence.

Elphaba merely meowed.

Kevin gave an irritated sigh. Although he loved the kittens that he and Connor had now, they could be trouble sometimes. In fact, Kevin was convinced they were trouble on purpose. For example, this was the third time today that Kevin had found Elphaba, a black kitten with emerald eyes, sitting on his bed when he wanted to be lying on his bed.

Kevin looked at the kitten helplessly. He had already tried lifting her off, but she only dug her claws into the covers, making her impossible to dislodge. He would have to think of a more creative way of moving her.

"Elphie, do you want a treat?" he said brightly, pretending to have something in his hand. "Come off the bed and you can have one."

Elphaba watched him with a curious expression on her face, but did not move. Kevin even took the time to go downstairs and get an actual treat, but she still refused to come off the bed.

_Plan 1: Failure._

Kevin paced around the room for a while, and Elphaba watched him. He could almost see her smiling at him as he thought. Sometimes the kittens seemed fairly human. Then again, that could have been the Aristocats playing in Kevin's mind.

He stopped, then got down on the floor so Elphaba couldn't see him. Maybe he could scare her off the bed ...

He crawled to the edge of the bed and waited quietly for a moment. There came no noise from the kitten. Hopefully she had forgotten that he was there. After a moment, he jumped suddenly back up again.

"AH!" he shouted, hoping that Elphaba would leap off the bed in fright. But she didn't. She just stared at him.

_Plan 2: Also failure._

Kevin sighed in frustration and knelt down, leveling his eyes with hers. She purred, and he gave her a look.

"Is this a game to you?" he asked quietly, forgetting for a second that she couldn't actually talk or really understand what he was saying. "Is this funny?"

Elphaba reached out a paw and tapped Kevin on the nose. He rolled his eyes, trying to ignore how cute she was. That often got the kittens out of trouble, particularly with Kevin's red-headed counter part. Where was Connor when he needed him?

"Why is it always my side of the bed, anyway?" Kevin asked Elphaba, moving and sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. "Why do you never sit on Connor's side? What's so interesting about my side? Sometimes I think you and Toulouse are out to make my life a misery. Connor thinks I'm being paranoid."

Elphaba gave a quiet 'mew' at this, and Kevin smiled. She was absolutely adorable, as tricky as she was. He was glad that he'd got the kittens for Connor; he'd fallen in love with them too.

"I'm still a dog person." he insisted to her, as though she'd implied something on the contrary with her noise. "But I like you two very much."

As though summoned by this mention, Toulouse suddenly appeared from the doorway, and Kevin watched him suspiciously.

"Hey, buddy." he greeted the ginger kitten - named after the Aristocat - as he came padding over the Kevin's feet. "What are you up to?"

Toulouse looked up at Kevin through his seemingly innocent blue eyes, then bent down, looking remarkably like he was going to jump.

"Don't you dare!" Kevin warned him, but it was too late. Toulouse sprung up and settled himself next to Elphaba. From the way he curled himself into a tight ball, it didn't seem like he had any intentions of moving.

"Great." Kevin muttered, getting up and looking down at them both. He looked at Elphaba, tutting. "I hope you're happy." he said to her. "You're a bad influence on him."

After a few more minutes of thinking, Kevin came up with the rather ridiculous idea of trying to push the kittens off the bed from underneath. He got under the bed and started pushing upwards, hoping they would become uncomfortable. He was so engaged in this activity, in fact, that he didn't hear another pair of feet padding up the stairs.

"Kevin, sweetie, what are you doing?" came Connor's voice from room.

Kevin bumped his head on the bed in surprise, then crawled out from underneath it to see Connor looking at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly seeking an explanation for this crazy behaviour.

"Hey, Connor." Kevin flashed his usual winning smile. "What are you doing?"

"I asked you first." the red-head pointed out. "Care to explain why you're creating an earthquake for the kittens?"

"I'm trying to get them off the bed." Kevin explained to his fiancé, surveying the kittens, who stared back, with an annoyed expression.

"Why?" Connor chuckled.

"Because I want to sit there." Kevin explained. "I don't see the point now. I might as well go live in their cage seeing as they aren't going to move any time soon."

"Oh, honey, stop overreacting." Connor rolled his eyes. "I keep telling you that your theory about them being organised against you is completely ridiculous."

"You say that," Kevin smiled, "but you can never tell what they're thinking. Look at them; they're devious."

They both looked at the kittens, who were surveying them with wide, questioning eyes, looking more adorable than ever.

"They don't look all that devious to me, Kevin." Connor giggled. He bent down at the waist a little. "Come here, you two." he said in a soft voice. "Come on."

Almost immediately, both the kittens jumped off the bed and ran to Connor. Elphaba danced around his legs, and Toulouse jumped at him. Kevin merely stared.

"See?" Connor smiled. "They're harmless."

"That _proves_ they're messing with me." Kevin pointed accusingly at the kittens. "How did you do that?"

"Honey, I have a gift with cats." Connor teased, throwing his scarf back over his shoulder. Kevin smirked.

"Sure thing, Snow White." he laughed. "I'm going to sit on my bed now."

"Okay." Connor smiled. "I'll take the kittens with me." He left the room, the kittens following him excitedly.

Kevin shook his head and grabbed his book. Connor's ability to get the kittens to do whatever he wanted was amazing, and irritating at the same time.

About half an hour later, Kevin looked up from his book with the feeling of being watched. His eyes moved to the door, and he saw Elphaba standing watching.

"No." he said, grabbing a pillow and throwing it in her direction. He didn't want to hit her, merely to scare her off. Elphaba jumped away and ran back down the stairs. Kevin smiled in satisfaction, returning to his book.

"Who's unlimited now?" he said to himself.


	5. Chapter 5: Hide and Seek

Connor had grown accustomed to Kevin's slightly dramatic nature by now. He'd seen it first on their mission, and though Kevin's dramatic exit from the hut after seeing someone get shot in the face was perfectly understandable, he did have a little bit of a habit of over-dramatising situations. Still, Connor thought that was cute.

It was no different with the kittens.

Though Kevin wasn't quite as confident about cats as he was about dogs, that didn't mean he didn't care about them. He had grown to be as fond of the kittens as Connor was, so when things went wrong he tended to panic. Not that Connor was the most level-headed person all the time - he did panic too - but he wasn't so worried about the kittens after having Mitzi. He'd been through it all before, so he knew when he needed to get worried.

Kevin, not so much.

"Connor," the brunette said suddenly, appearing from a doorway with a worried expression on his face, "have you seen Toulouse?"

"Uh ..." Connor considered a moment. "Not recently," he answered. He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I can't find him anywhere," Kevin told him, and Connor smiled a little at the nervous tone of his voice. "I'm worried he's got out and run away or something."

"Kevin, sweetie, I'm sure he's just hiding somewhere. He'll turn up."

"But, Connor, what if he doesn't?" Kevin implored him. "What if he's got out and he gets run over by a car. Or, worse, what if someone _kidnaps_ him?"

"Now, that worry is definitely a product of you having watched 'The Aristocats' too many times," Connor told him, and his fiancé gave him a look. "Kevin, Mitzi used to do this all the time. She'd disappear for a few hours, and then I'd find her in my wardrobe or something. Toulouse is probably fine."

"Aren't you even a little worried?" Kevin asked. Connor smiled fondly at him.

"Alright," he pushed a hand through his red hair with a sigh. "Where have you looked?"

"Well, he's not on their bed, and he's not in any of the rooms that I could find."

"Hmm."

"I looked in the usual spots he likes to be in, like by the radiator or in the sink, and he wasn't there."

"Hmm."

"And he's not with Elphie, who's on the bed at the moment."

"Okay," Connor nodded. "I don't think you have any need to panic yet, honey. You haven't finished looking."

"What do you mean?" Kevin asked curiously.

"Did you look under the bed? Or under the couch? Or under anything?"

Kevin paused a moment.

"I looked under the _bed_," he said, and Connor smiled, getting up. Kevin looked at him as he went past, following him out of the room. He led him to the little sitting area they had, stopping by the couch.

"If there's one thing I learned from Mitzi," he said, "it's that cats like to hide in and _under_ things."

He bent down and put his head to the ground, looking underneath the couch. And there was Toulouse, fast asleep.

Connor moved closer and put his hand under the piece of furniture, reaching out and gently picking Toulouse up. The kitten gave a quiet mew at the disturbance, but he remained mostly asleep as Connor stood up again, holding him in his arms.

"See?" he smiled at Kevin. "He's fine."

"I think you have cat senses," Kevin replied, and Connor laughed.

"No, I'm just better at finding things than you," he stated. "But, then, I have more practise at finding cats."

Kevin paused a moment in thought, then got down and looking under the couch too. Connor raised an eyebrow at him, unsure why he was doing so since they had now found Toulouse.

"Hey, look," Kevin reached out and pulled something out, "it's that sock of mine that went missing. And, hey, isn't this one of your scarves?"

"I've been looking for that for _ages_!" Connor said as Kevin put the blue scarf around his neck for him, since he was holding Toulouse.

"I guess this is his little stash, then," Kevin smiled. Connor chuckled to himself, looking at the sleeping kitten affectionately.

"Okay," he sighed, "so have you learned not to panic so much about cats disappearing now?"

"Well, I'll certainly try not to," Kevin smirked, "but I don't know if I'll manage. Mostly what I've learned is that if I can't find one of them I'll just ask you."

"Honestly, Kevin," Connor rolled his eyes fondly.

"Oh, by the way," Kevin said brightly, "I had an idea about the wedding."

"Did you?" the red-head smiled. "What was it?"

"Okay, so you discounted my idea of a Disney themed wedding," his fiancé said, and Connor nodded, "which is fair enough. But picture this: the cake in the shape of Cinderella's castle."

Connor shook his head in amusement. He was never going to learn.

"Kevin," he said with a smile.

"I know, you're not feeling it, but I think it would look really good," Kevin went on. "And I was also thinking that the kittens could be ring bearers."

"The kittens are not being ring bearers," Connor refused point blank. "That is a terrible idea. No animals. One of my cousins had their pet parrot involved in the ceremony when they got married, and it spend the entire time screeching and saying annoying phrases."

"Okay, so no to the ring bearers idea," Kevin accepted. "But is the cake thing still on the table?"

Connor sighed.

"I'll _think_ about it," he answered, being tactically non-committal. Kevin laughed to himself before going off up the stairs, and Connor smiled. He took Toulouse back to the kittens' bed before going back to what he'd been doing.

And a few minutes later ...

"Connor," Kevin reappeared. "Now Elphaba's gone."

"You're on your own, honey," Connor told him. "Use what I just taught you."

"No, but Connor, the window was open, I'm worried she got out."

Connor just looked at him.

"You're never going to stop panicking, are you?" he sighed.

"Excuse me for being concerned for the well-being of our kittens," Kevin said indignantly. Connor smiled.

"Look around the house first," he instructed. Kevin went off again to follow this advice. Connor waited patiently, listening.

"FOUND HER!" Kevin called a little while later. Connor smiled.

"This is why I was District Leader," he said to himself, returning to his work again.


End file.
